Navaratri Brahmotsavam begins at Tirumala

Tirupati: The nine-day annual Brahmotsavam festival at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara here began on Friday with the temple high priests chanting vedic hymns and hoisting the sacred Garuda flag atop the 'golden dwajasthambham' (flagmast).

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was present on the occasion where tight security arrangements were in place.

Later Naidu, observing the three-and-half-decade-old practice, on behalf of the state government, offered a set of new silk clothes to the shrine on the occasion of the advent of the navaratri festival, temple sources said.

The high priests received the clothes from Naidu and it would be adorned on the presiding deity on the 'Garudaseva' day on the fifth day of the Brahmotsavam on September 30, they added.